[Infowarrior] - Gunman Kills 30 on Virginia Tech Campus

Mon Apr 16 20:08:44 UTC 2007

Gunman Kills 30 on Virginia Tech Campus
Apr 16 03:40 PM US/Eastern
By SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writer
http://www.breitbart.com/print.php?id=D8OHT2T80&show_article=1

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and
then, two hours later, in a classroom across campus Monday, killing at least
30 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, government
officials told The Associated Press. The gunman was killed, bringing the
death toll to 31.

Students complained that the university did not warn them about the first
deadly burst of gunfire until hours later.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of
monumental proportions," said Virginia Tech president Charles Steger. "The
university is shocked and indeed horrified."

It was not immediately clear whether the gunman was shot by police or took
his own life. Investigators offered no motive for the attack. The gunman's
name was not immediately released, and it was not known if he was a student.

The shootings spread panic and confusion on campus. Witnesses reporting
students jumping out the windows of a classroom building to escape the
gunfire. SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles
swarmed over the campus. Students and faculty members carried out some of
the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive.

The massacre took place at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus,
beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a coed dormitory that
houses 895 people, and continuing at least two hours later at Norris Hall,
an engineering building about a half-mile away, authorities said.

Police said they were still investigating the shooting at the dorm when they
got word of gunfire at the classroom building.

Some students bitterly questioned why the gunman was able to strike a second
time, two hours after the bloodshed began.

"What happened today this was ridiculous," student Jason Piatt told CNN. He
said the first warning from the university of a shooting on campus came in
an e-mail about two hours after the first deadly burst of gunfire. "While
they're sending out that e-mail, 22 more people got killed," Piatt said.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said there was no evidence to
suggest it was a terrorist attack, "but all avenues will be explored."

Government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they did
not want to pre-empt an announcement by higher-ranking authorities, put the
death toll at 31.

At least 26 people were being treated at three area hospitals for gunshot
wounds and other injuries, authorities said. Their exact conditions were not
disclosed, but at least one was sent to a trauma center and six were in
surgery, authorities said.

Up until Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was in Killeen,
Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby's
Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.

The massacre Monday took place almost eight years to the day after the
Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. On April 20, 1999, two
teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own
lives.

Previously, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history was a rampage that
took place in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where Charles
Whitman climbed the clock tower and opened fire with a rifle from the
28th-floor observation deck. He killed 16 people before he was shot to death
by police.

Founded in 1872, Virginia Tech is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of
southwestern Virginia, about 160 miles west of Richmond. With more than
25,000 full-time students, it has the state's largest full-time student
population. The school is best known for its engineering school and its
powerhouse Hokies football team.

The rampage took place on a brisk spring day, with snow flurries swirling
around the campus. The campus is centered around the Drill Field, a grassy
field where military cadets‹who now represent a fraction of the student
body‹once practiced. The dorm and the classroom building are on opposites
sides of the Drill Field.

A gasp could be heard at a campus news conference when Virginia Tech Police
Chief W.R. Flinchum said at least 20 people had been killed. Previously,
only one person was thought to have been killed.

Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives began marking and recovering the large number of shell casings
and will trace the weapon used, authorities said.

A White House spokesman said President Bush was horrified by the rampage and
offered his prayers to the victims and the people of Virginia.

"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but
that all laws must be followed," spokeswoman Dana Perino said

After the shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed, and classes
were canceled through Tuesday. The university set up a meeting place for
families to reunite with their children. It also made counselors available
and planned an assembly for Tuesday at the basketball arena.

After the shooting began, students were told to stay inside away from the
windows.

Aimee Kanode, a freshman from Martinsville, said the shooting happened on
the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory, one floor above her
room. Kanode's resident assistant knocked on her door about 8 a.m. to notify
students to stay put.

Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks by
authorities but said they have not determined a link to the shootings.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of
a shooting.

Last August, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus closed
when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and
fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy involved in the manhunt was killed
on a trail just off campus. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital
murder charges.